Upgrading Ubuntu on your Dell Mini 9

Apart from a few user commands that I know to get by in unix (e.g. ls, mv, cp, top, etc), I am a bit of a noob when it comes to Linux.

I bought a Dell Mini 9 a year ago, and I hardly used it because of its cough cripped version of Ubuntu 8.04. I am also a proud owner of an O2 mobile broadband USB stick (Huawei E160). In order to get them to work together, it is easier to upgrade to Ubuntu 8.10 because of its support with HSPDA modems straight out of the box.

I found this brilliant website http://www.ubuntumini.com/2008/10/user-guides-for-ubuntu-810-intrpid-ibex.html that took me through the steps to get Ubuntu 8.10 working. The website even taught me a few things about linux file systems (ext2 vs ext 3), swap files and their performance penalties on the SSD hard drive. Full credits to the guys on the website who help us Dell Mini 9 owners out there.

You will certainly need a quiet weekend to perform the upgrade – but don’t let this deter you – it is well worth it and it makes your Dell Mini 9 much more usable rather than becoming a “buy-it-now” item on ebay.

So for those of you who haven’t upgraded yet, please back up your data, go ahead the try it out!